A 58-year-old man has admitted to a shocking act of animal cruelty, confessing to drunkenly throwing three kittens off a west London bridge into the River Thames.
‘What I did was horrible’: A drunken confession
Andrew Shephard pleaded guilty to three counts of causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal at a recent court hearing. The court was told that on November 30, Shephard tipped the kittens, which were in a box, over the edge of Twickenham Bridge.
Prosecutor Jack Wadsworth stated that members of the public witnessed the distressing incident. They reported hearing Shephard say, ‘let them die, I want them to die.’ Thanks to the quick actions of bystanders, one of the kittens was rescued before it could fall into the water. The other two, however, went into the River Thames.
Aftermath and explanation
Following the incident, Shephard, who represented himself in court, attributed his actions to severe intoxication. He told the court he was ‘completely out of it’ and ‘absolutely paralytic,’ claiming he could not remember the events clearly.
‘I do realise what I did was horrible and I have to look myself every morning in the mirror and know what I did which is completely out of my normal behaviour,’ Shephard stated. He added that he had a problem with alcohol and that he had not intended to kill the kittens, but his daughter could no longer care for them.
The prosecutor confirmed that the two kittens retrieved from the river were taken to a vet in ‘bad condition’. The third kitten was taken home by a rescuer.
Sentencing awaits
Andrew Shephard, of no fixed address, is now awaiting sentencing on February 17, 2026. The judge ordered a pre-sentence report to be completed before that date. The case has highlighted severe consequences for acts of cruelty against animals in the capital.
